BENGALURU: A 36-year-old woman lost Rs one lakh after depositing a cheque of Rs 5,000 in a private bank. When the cheque was not honored, she approached the bank and found out that the cheque was couriered to her address because her name was misspelled on the cheque leaf. To track the courier, she surfed the net and ended up reaching the courier company’s fake number. However, after she dialed the number and followed the instructions of the cyber frauds, she ended up losing her money.
The victim has been identified as MS Smitha, a resident of Hongasandra Main Road. The incident occurred between January 5 and 6 and the complaint was filed with the Begur police on Monday. Smitha deposited the cheque on January 3 in a private bank where she had a savings account. She had not noticed that her name was misspelled on the cheque that was given to her by another person.
Due to the error in the name, the bank couriered the cheque to her address. When she surfed the net to track the courier, she ended up calling the number that claimed to be the customer care number. The number belonged to a fraudulent entity that pretended to be a real company. When she called the number, there was a debit of Rs two from her account, which she failed to think seriously about.
“Initially, Rs two was deducted from my account and I was notified about the same. However, it was only when I checked my net banking the next day, that I found out that Rs one lakh was debited from my account. When I dialed the number, I was sure that it was a genuine number. The fraudster spoke to me in Hindi and I did not suspect anything fishy, “ Smitha told TNIE.
Further, the police also informed the public about being alert of fraudulent companies. “Real companies will have an official website,” he said. A case under the IT Act of 2000 has been registered against the accused.